Spring preview: Greene or Gonzalez at short?

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Tyler Greene has a slight edge over Marwin Gonzalez to take over the starting shortstop role. (Nick de la Torre/ Houston Chronicle)

One in a series of previews of the key decisions the Astros will make at spring training:

Shortstop

Candidates: Tyler Greene, Marwin Gonzalez, Jake Elmore

Breakdown: The Astros hope to replace Jed Lowrie’s bat (16 HR in 97 games in 2012) with two players. Greene, 29, is speedy and has some pop from the right side (11 HR in 330 at-bats last year). But he holds a career .647 OPS and hasn’t batted above .230 in four seasons. Gonzalez, 23, is a slick fielder who switch hits. But he struggles to make contact (.234 BA, .327 slugging in 2012) and hits righties (.276 BA) much better than lefties (.113). Elmore, 25, has only played in 30 MLB games and hit just .191 with a .497 OPS for Arizona last season.

Astros need: OPS and a glove. Neither Greene nor Gonzalez possess both, and Gonzalez’s glove could give him more playing time as the season unfolds if Greene struggles at the plate – the former St. Louis reserve has struck out during 26.4 percent of his MLB at-bats, which is 7.7 percent above average.

Early edge: Greene — barely. Expect Houston to platoon Greene and Gonzalez all season unless GM Jeff Luhnow picks up a full-time big-league shortstop via another trade or waiver signing.